$400m brokerage, trade services firm set up in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi, March 7, 2011

ADS Securities, a full-fledged brokerage and trade services firm that brings significant new opportunities to participants in the forex, precious metals, commodities, futures and options markets, was launched today in Abu Dhabi.

Backed by a capital commitment of $400 million from a group of private investors, ADS Securities offers a comprehensive set of services and tools designed to help institutional, professional and high-net-worth market participants trade with high efficiency, speed and simplicity, said a statement.

ADS Securities offers a deep range of market-leading pricing on bid/offer spreads across all major currency pairs and in all trade sizes.

Regulated and licensed by the UAE Central Bank, ADS Securities is building a large network of liquidity providers (LPs), including tier 1 and 2 banks and financial institutions, Electronic Computer Networks (ECNs), FX and commodity exchanges and brokers, it said.

ADS Securities has adopted the highest global standards of technology and its operations are aligned with the most stringent regulations prevalent in international markets, said the statement. The venture is led by Mahmood Ebraheem Al Mahmood, executive chairman, and Philippe Ghanem, managing director, who both have a wealth of experience in establishing and running commodity trading as well as securities trading ventures.

Speaking about the business opportunity that inspired the creation of ADS Securities, Al Mahmood said: “We saw a great opportunity to service the global trading market out of Abu Dhabi. Our geographical location in Abu Dhabi gives us several advantages. In particular, it gives us the ability to provide liquidity during the four-hour period between the close of the Far East and the opening of Europe when markets experience a shortage of liquidity and wide bid/ask spreads.

“The opportunity for us to service the global market is huge and the potential volumes that can be generated are substantial. We also saw a clear opportunity to service the Middle East region, which has so far been largely underserviced and untapped by global brokerages,” he said.

Ghanem said one of the key advantages offered by ADS Securities is that it allows its clients to be market makers. Over the long term, ADS Securities could emerge as a substantial facilitator of liquidity for institutional, professional and high-net-worth traders, he pointed out.

“Institutional players always look to improve their sources of liquidity by trading from different hubs. We believe financial institutions in the Middle East can provide a significant alternative source of liquidity and can play a major role in shaping the global trading marketplace. We hope to encourage local banks in the UAE and the rest of the GCC and Middle East to provide their prices on our platform over the long term.” Initially, FX (spot, forwards and swaps), commodities (metals, cocoa, oil and gas), futures and options can be traded on the online ADS Securities platform. Over the Counter (OTC) Options can be traded offline with sales traders and dealers.

Products in the pipeline include other agricultural commodities, NDFs, CFDs and other derivatives. At a later stage, ADS Securities plans to introduce opportunities to trade a wider range of securities products, he said.

ADS Securities has an online trading platform with some unique proprietary functionalities like the ability to trade swaps; market making and multi-LP windows, which lists the names of the LPs, a feature not offered by most comparable platforms. In addition, the platform facilitates ultra-low latency price discovery and trade execution backed by servers in Abu Dhabi, Singapore and London, the statement said.

Speaking further about ADS Securities’ offerings, Al Mahmood said: “One of the biggest advantages we provide clients is that we do not run a trading book, this ensures that we do not trade against our clients. The best spreads available in the market are streamed to clients directly from our LPs. Our initial capitalisation of $400 million enables us to build strong relations with leading liquidity providers and offer a deep pool of liquidity to our clients.”

Personalised trade service is another of ADS Securities’ strong points. The company has developed trade support and services marked by pro-activeness and strong attention to detail. The support and service team is composed of highly experienced sales traders and chief dealers, he said.

Diligent operations and risk management teams constantly monitor and manage the post-trade cycle to reduce risk to a minimum. ADS Securities’ location in Abu Dhabi allows it to provide extended support to clients in the East and West beyond normal trading hours and days. By offering 24/ 6 trade support, which few in the global trading markets provide, ADS Securities is able to provide the timely support and assistance necessary for consistently successful trade execution, he added.

ADS Securities has built a multi-national team with a wide range of international experience. Members of the team have experience in some of the world’s leading securities trading companies and banks. –TradeArabia News Service